Arnie has just beaten off a murderous attack by Bob. Plot over, Bob goes to jail, roll credits, right?

Wrong. Maybe Arnie was bigger, or stronger, or could conceivably have run away. Either way, someone in a position of authority feels that Arnie was in the wrong inflicting whatever damage he did to Bob. Bob, on the other hand, is a poor victim. Cue [[RuleOfDrama drama]].

This often involves DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale; sometimes, it's due to SelectiveEnforcement. Compare [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin Can't Get Away With Nuthin']], WoundedGazelleGambit, WrongfulAccusationInsurance. An attacker may even play a DeliberateInjuryGambit to invoke this trope. A history of such cases InUniverse may explain occurrences of OnceIsNotEnough. If the attacker uses words instead of violence, it's MadeOutToBeAJerkass.

As with everything else law-related, expect the writers to interpret self-defense laws [[ArtisticLicenseLaw creatively]].

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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* This is the entire conflict between the ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' and their nemesis, {{Magneto}}. The X-Men wholeheartedly believe in this ideal, as taught by their leader, Professor Xavier. Magneto, on the other hand, believes that the only way to battle oppression is to rise up and conquer them. Various points of media will show either as being "right", DependingOnTheWriter.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* In ''Film/ConAir'', the (sympathetic) main character is put in prison for accidentally killing someone in defense of his wife, but you get the impression he got a raw deal, and the judge says that as an inactive soldier, he should have been more careful.
** The judge completely ignores the fact that, as a US Army Ranger, the guy is specifically trained to kill. The guy was defending himself and his wife from five bullies. It's inevitable that the training would take over.
* An especially jarring plot point from ''TheButterflyEffect'' has Evan get sent to prison when he accidentally kills Tommy in self-defense. Mind you, everyone knows Tommy is a violent psycho and there were a dozen witnesses to testify that Tommy was trying to kill Evan.
* In ''Film/EscapeFromAlcatraz'', English is a veteran inmate in Alcatraz prison in 1960. He tells Frank Morris his story how he wound up in there. He was harassed by two men, who tried to attack him with knives. English killed them both. The reason why he got two life sentences, back-to-back? [[DeliberateValuesDissonance The two men were white, and he was black]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', Harry risks breaking TheMasquerade by using magic to protect his cousin and himself against Dementors, and is put on trial for this. In this case, the government in question is waging a propaganda war against Harry, and is twisting the law in order to punish him as much as possible and make him look like a delinquent. [[spoiler: And then it turns out that one of their particularly nasty members is secretly responsible for the attack in the first place.]]
* In ''{{Hoot}}'', Roy punches Dana in the face while being choked and is subsequently punished
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' takes some flak with her political opponents for shooting a man when she knew his gun was empty, [[spoiler:because he had emptied it in her general direction when her back was turned, in direct violation of the rules of the duel the two were engaged in. Under those rules, the supervisor was required to kill the offending party, so her opponent would have died anyway.]]
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Harry Dresden almost got executed for killing his EvilMentor (who had tried to mind control and then kill him), because the White Council believes that killing using magic automatically warrants death, only somebody being willing to sponsor him saved him. And he still spent the next couple of years being repeatedly accused of BlackMagic. The problem? Hundreds of years of experience has taught them that breaking the Laws of Magic, no matter how supposedly necessary or well-intentioned, usually sets people off a dark road. [[spoiler: And they have yet to be proven wrong. Yes, even with ''Harry''.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* Season two of ''Series/{{Dexter}}'' has his girlfriend's abusive ex-husband force his way into her house. Her children are sleeping nearby, and she's afraid of what will happen to them if she puts up a fight, so she lures him into her bedroom, and smacks him down with the Emergency Bat she keeps under her bed. Next thing you know, the ex-husband is filing assault charges against her, and she's in danger of losing her kids. Fortunately, her current boyfriend just ''happens'' to be a psychopathic SerialKillerKiller...
* In the ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' episode "Lone Star", killing a human, even in self-defense, is a hanging crime for a Skagerran.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In ''{{Max Payne 3}}'', a mob boss wants to kill Max for killing his son, when said son was going to kill Max unprovoked.
* The [=iOS=] ChooseYourOwnAdventure called ''Heroes Rise'' has the PlayerCharacter's parents be famous superheroes who were attacked by an assassin while accepting their award in public. While attepmting to subdue her, they accidentally kill her. The judge sentences them both to life in prison with no possibility of parole and doesn't even grant them visitation rights. Oh, and all their money is given to [[spoiler:the assassin's daughter]]. It's made clear that this was a political move on the judge's part, as he was running for mayor at the time. However, it's not clear why a murder trial wasn't a trial by jury and why the jury didn't side with the city's favorite superheroes instead of an assassin who was ''trying to kill them''. There should've been an appeal to a higher court (i.e. where said judge couldn't do anything). On the other hand, the ending implies that [[spoiler:the judge-turned-mayor may have had other reasons to put away the player's parents]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* In a strip of ''Webcomic/OzyAndMillie'', their regular JerkJock bully, Jeremy, keeps pushing Millie into a pool of mud, knocking her over every time she tries to get up. Finally, she snaps and socks him in the face... at which point a teacher immediately spots her, and hauls her into the principal's office for starting a fight. (The injustice inherent in the school system is a frequently visited theme).
* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' made a running gag early in its run about everyone being mad at Gil for killing doctor Beetle (by [[PlayingTennisWithTheBoss batting his own bomb back at him]]), and Gil defending himself by saying, "He threw a bomb at me!"
* In ''Muertitos'', the school has a zero tolerance policy. After a girl bully attacks him, Honeo is suspended because instead of lying limp, he flailed around and ''could'' have hit someone, but the bully got off scot free because [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney her dad is rich]] and regularly makes donations to the school. You can see the strip [[http://muertitos.comicgenesis.com/d/20050428.html here]].
* In ''Webcomic/LeftoverSoup'' Jamie was mugged and shot but he grabbed the guy's gun and pistol-whipped him with it then called the police. But because the mugger was technically a minor (albeit a lot larger than the scrawny Jamie) the police took his side when he pressed charges for assault, and the only fingerprints on the (stolen) gun were Jamie's, and the press painted it as a hate crime because the supposedly beaten 17-year old was black. Jamie only got off because his accuser OD'd on PCP and killed himself.
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